Knowledge, attitude and practice regarding diarrhoea and its prevention and the use of oral rehydration therapy among mothers of children under the age of five visiting a tertiary care hospital in Mangalore, India

ABSTRACT

Background: Diarrheal diseases remain the second most leading cause of mortality and morbidity next to pneumonia among under-five mortality globally, contributing to 1/5th of child deaths.Methods: Cross sectional hospital based questionnaire study conducted among 200 mothers of children within the age group of 6-60 months with diarrhoea attending the paediatric outdoor or treated in the paediatric indoor (OPD) at YMCH hospital using personal interview method. Filled up questionnaires was collected and was attached along with the filled up proforma.Results: Of 200 mothers, 24.3% knew the correct meaning of diarrhoea, with 73.8% of them not knowing the correct cause of diarrhoea. Only 44.3% knew that it could be prevented. Majority 88.7% did not know to look for signs of dehydration. Less than half of the mothers had only heard of ORT. By using c2-test, preparation ORS was found to be associated with the mother's education (p=0.04) proving that knowledge is better among those mothers with formal education. No association was found between ORS preparation and age of the mother (p=0.229), religion (p=0.342), and gender of the child (p=0.061).Conclusions: The findings of this research indicate that only 73.8% of the mothers had knowledge regarding the cause of the diarrhoea and less than half 11.3% has only heard and used ORT properly.